turturici, if you go back through this very thread, I did the same as you. Could never get anywhere with Verizon even telling me how to check the fire wire port status on the box, much less getting it working. I didn't get any farther than where you are now.

I ended up switching over to using 7MC with a cable card and HDHomerun Prime. Since Verizon flags everything but premiums as "copy freely" I'm able to archive what I want. Maybe you'll have better luck once more people get the cisco boxes and start trying to use fire wire, but I have a feeling that using that port is something that's going to be less and less feasible.

One thing I didn't trying was Win7, 32 bit. I don't expect it will be any better, but might be worth a try.

Nevermind...I think I understand. You are using the cable card from Verizon in your HDHomerun Prime, correct? This allows you to watch your cable channels on any of your computers in the home, correct? Are you capturing full HD .TS files? Are they being captured with full surround? I was happy with CAPDVHS because if created .TS files with full surround profiles that allowed me to create full HD, 5.1 Blu-ray disks of anything I wanted.

How exactly are you capturing? I've never fooled around with Media Center. So, maybe that's why I don't know

Thanks again!

P.S.
I hope someone figures it out, because using CAPDVHS worked very well for me.

Yep, the cable card determines which channels you're allowed to get, i.e. those beyond the local "OTA" channels. HDHomerun Prime is a network device, so the 3 tuners it provides can be accessed by any Vista/Win7 computer on the network. 7MC records the channels exactly as they come over the wire (fiber?) from Verizon, so you get DD5.1 and the untouched video/audio as it's sent. The 7MC interface is also pretty nice. Not quite as powerful/advanced as Tivo, but much better than anything from Comcast or Verizon. You also don't have access to OnDemand, but I never really used that much.

7MC records to a WTV file, I use VideoRedo to edit those but I believe there are also free tools to convert to another container such as TS. The beauty of this method is the file is already there on the PC, you don't need to "capture" or transfer anything, just go directly to editing.

Keep in mind this all works so well because Verizon doesn't prevent it via a "copy once" flag. For channels with that designation, you can only watch them on the PC where it's recorded. Of course, you're similarly restricted using fire wire, so it's an issue for either method.

Just a comment on the use of HDHomeRun (and Prime, for cable use), which as described is an outboard tuner device on your network, accessible by WMC just like an internal or USB Ceton (or ATI) tuner is... only via Ethernet, instead of PCIe/USB.

A 1080i channel requires about 25Mb/s bandwidth. If you are recording 3 simultaneous 1080i channels using WMC from the HDHomeRun, you need 75Mb/s for the "inbound" data to be recorded.

If you also need to feed recorded/live programs from WMC on the HTPC to TV's around your house, another 25Mb/s is needed to feed content from WMC to each of those extender-supported destinations.

You do the math.

In other words, you really need a wired gigabit home LAN to support this kind of traffic and do it reliably.

Furthermore, the HTPC needs a FULL-DUPLEX gigabit NIC to handle all of the inbound and outbound traffic reliably and efficiently. This really is a server-class NIC if you want performance in your home, not the half-duplex gigabit onboard chips typically found on motherboards.

And gigabit needs CAT6 cable to the router, and the HDHomeRun needs CAT6 cable to the router, and the router needs to be 10/100/1000. From the router to each extender you only need 100Mb/s and CAT5.

My nephew is going through this very issue right this second as we speak, as he has both HDHomeRun for OTA as well as HDHomeRun Prime for cable. So he's got DOUBLE the bandwidth need from these, theoretically. And he had to rewire and relocate things to satisfy the gigabit requirements. He also has five HDTV/xBOX extender setups around the house, so he also has a gigabit switch fed from the gigabit router, and 100Mb/s cable runs from the switch.

This is not for the faint of heart, if you really do want to get into it.

But as has been pointed out, once you have WMC and recorded shows in WTV, assuming they are not copy-protected you can then edit them with VideoReDo.

Unfortunately, here in TWC/LA (and all TWC nationally, I do believe) EVERYTHING is marked "copy-once" except for local OTA networks. So NOTHING can be edited with VideoRedo except for local OTA network content.

DSperber:
My only desire is to be able to move select video from a DVR to my computer. I have two Cisco boxes: one with DVR, one without. Could I replace only one of those boxes with a HDHomeRun box with a tuner card just for this purpose, say, the one in my bedroom that I don't need On Demand use? Every once in a while, I'll come across some content that I want to be able to move to my PC, edit, and burn to disk. It's not something I do everyday, or even that often. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Just a comment on the use of HDHomeRun (and Prime, for cable use), which as described is an outboard tuner device on your network, accessible by WMC just like an internal or USB Ceton (or ATI) tuner is... only via Ethernet, instead of PCIe/USB.

A 1080i channel requires about 25Mb/s bandwidth. If you are recording 3 simultaneous 1080i channels using WMC from the HDHomeRun, you need 75Mb/s for the "inbound" data to be recorded.

If you also need to feed recorded/live programs from WMC on the HTPC to TV's around your house, another 25Mb/s is needed to feed content from WMC to each of those extender-supported destinations.

You do the math.

In other words, you really need a wired gigabit home LAN to support this kind of traffic and do it reliably.

Furthermore, the HTPC needs a FULL-DUPLEX gigabit NIC to handle all of the inbound and outbound traffic reliably and efficiently. This really is a server-class NIC if you want performance in your home, not the half-duplex gigabit onboard chips typically found on motherboards.

And gigabit needs CAT6 cable to the router, and the HDHomeRun needs CAT6 cable to the router, and the router needs to be 10/100/1000. From the router to each extender you only need 100Mb/s and CAT5.

My nephew is going through this very issue right this second as we speak, as he has both HDHomeRun for OTA as well as HDHomeRun Prime for cable. So he's got DOUBLE the bandwidth need from these, theoretically. And he had to rewire and relocate things to satisfy the gigabit requirements. He also has five HDTV/xBOX extender setups around the house, so he also has a gigabit switch fed from the gigabit router, and 100Mb/s cable runs from the switch.

This is not for the faint of heart, if you really do want to get into it.

But as has been pointed out, once you have WMC and recorded shows in WTV, assuming they are not copy-protected you can then edit them with VideoReDo.

Unfortunately, here in TWC/LA (and all TWC nationally, I do believe) EVERYTHING is marked "copy-once" except for local OTA networks. So NOTHING can be edited with VideoRedo except for local OTA network content.

Verizon/FIOS subscribers are quite lucky in this regard.

With a decent intel gigabit NIC and even cheap DLink gigabit switches you should have no problem moving at least 8 concurrent HD streams from HDHR's to other devices.

I was doing this back in 2006 with a circa 2003 dual xeon workstation back in the day.

DSperber:
My only desire is to be able to move select video from a DVR to my computer. I have two Cisco boxes: one with DVR, one without. Could I replace only one of those boxes with a HDHomeRun box with a tuner card just for this purpose, say, the one in my bedroom that I don't need On Demand use? Every once in a while, I'll come across some content that I want to be able to move to my PC, edit, and burn to disk. It's not something I do everyday, or even that often. Any suggestions? Thanks.

If you are concerned with copy-freely OTA network programming, then you CAN use an HDHomeRun as the network-based OTA ATSC tuners (fed from a roof antenna or good indoor UHF antenna).

Then you need to be running Win7 WMC on your PC, which will be fed from the HDHomeRun tuners... but network bandwidth is important, as I mentioned before, since 1080i programs require about 25Mb/s each. WMC is the DVR software itself, and copy-freely recordings to internal hard drive in your PC (why not install a 2TB internal drive?) can be viewed on your HTPC itself (with WMC in it), or on other Win7 machines on your home network (since the OTA content is copy-freely), or on Xbox/DMA-extender supported HDTV locations around your house.

The WMC recordings themselves (on your hard drive) will thus be copy-freely WTV files that you can view, edit, and produce output from... I'd recommend VideoReDo TV Suite v4 as the #1 product available at honestly what is a modest and well-deserved price. VRD itself has various output options, including for burning to DVD. Or, you can choose to save the edited result in original frame-accurate pure unadulterated MPEG-2 HDTV just as it was broadcast.

Your target output can thus either be down-converted and/or re-compressed form suitable for SD DVD, or (as I do) if you have a BluRay burner drive you can use BluRay authoring/burning software to retain true full HDTV original MPEG-2 unrecompressed original quality and produce edited commercial-free BluRay digital duplicate versions of the original HDTV content. In my opinion, this is the ideal output format for OTA HDTV programs I want to save.

I use a program named multiAVCHD to do the authoring (with titles, chapters, thumbnails, menus, direct-access navigation, etc.), as (a) it's free, and (b) it's straightforward and understandable once you do a little trial-and-error and ask some questions of others, and (b) it will NOT RESIZE OR RECOMPRESS if your input is suitable for direct transfer to BluRay, which of course 720p/1080i MPEG-2 HDTV content is. I use the edited output from VideoRedo, and then use multiAVCHD to do the "authoring" (menus, titles, chapters, thumbnails, etc.) and create the BluRay files.

Once the BluRay files are prepared by multiAVCHD, they are then burned to BD media by another nifty program named IMGBURN (also free). The result is that you've just built a BluRay equivalent of a commercial-free HDTV program (or clip), with as many different titles (or episodes, or whatever) you can get onto a 25GB BluRay media. Instant onscreen navigation and direct access to the contents of the disc, rather than slow sequential access to DVHS HDTV tape... had you used a DVHS VCR to offload HDTV from DVR via firewire.

It's the truly ideal solution for building a permanent library of copy-freely OTA HDTV content, replacing the old VCR. If you have the BluRay burner you will end up with true original-quality HDTV results. Why produce anything less (e.g. SD DVD)?

If you go with an HDHomeRun Prime (for cable) you may not be able to do anything starting with the "editing" and beyond, because of copy-protected content.

But if your cable system provides copy-freely content for basic cable shows then the above discussion will also apply to the WTV files recorded by WMC from this copy-freely cable programming content.

turturici, another option would be the Ceton Infinitv 4, available as either a PCIe card or USB device. It's somewhat similar in that it is a cable card tuner that will work with 7MC to get the recordings on a PC. The Ceton devices connect directly to a PC rather than running over the network. Just a different way to set things up, may work better for you than the HDHRP. Both are going to require a non-trivial hardware investment. That was the great thing about the fire wire solution, it was pretty cheap!

Ceton's also coming out with a DVR based on this same device, there's another thread here with discussion of that device.

Hi guys. Been a while since I have posted here. We have recently switched to Insight off of Uverse and have gone with their new Whole Home DVR system. Basically it consists of one NAS box for DVR storage which is connected by ethernet to one STB and MoCA to the whole house. 3 STB's in the system. All STB's have working Firewire on board. I have even done some extensive testing so far and have gotten flawless results on many channels.

My only thing I am concerned about and honestly can't remember the outcome way back when I first started down this road is the ability to copy out shows already recorded and being played back. Have tried this with the new system and it just comes up with a large TS files that VLC will not touch. Not sure if I am missing something or if I am relegated to just Live TV recording over FW. Thoughts?

EDIT: Forgot to mention the specific models involved. STB's are Pace RNG150N's and the NAS is a Pace DC900X.

Have tried this with the new system and it just comes up with a large TS files that VLC will not touch. Not sure if I am missing something or if I am relegated to just Live TV recording over FW. Thoughts?

Are you using copy-freely programs for your experiments?

You won't be able to use copy-once programs, even you create a TS file form it. VLC can't decrypt these.

You won't be able to use copy-once programs, even you create a TS file form it. VLC can't decrypt these.

I went in and checked today (unfortunately the way this thing is programmed makes it difficult as hell to do. Got to turn off the box and quickly hit the Ok button on the remote to bring up the menu and dig through to find the tuner status screen. And sometimes ends up returning to channel 1 because every power up of the box switches there and no options I have found to stay at the channel it was on before) and all of the channels I have seen are set Copy Once aside from locals. Though kinda odd because as I recall on my older SA8240HDC on Time Warner, Copy Once would disallow Firewire recordings even if I was tuned live, let alone trying to copy an already DVR'd recording. I guess this is a blessing though with this new Pace box, but would mean requiring the PC to do all the DVR work for shows I want to archive.

I do have another question though regarding 1394 chipsets: So far the only PC with Firewire I have been able to get functioning is my laptop with a Ricoh based OHCI chipset. Unfortunately it is running Win7 x64 which means no STB drivers, though I have used a LiveCD called "RedButton Software PVR" which is basically Ubuntu with a set of preinstalled tools to make it a one click method of recording with no command line work or tweaking or 'priming' necessary. Totally foolproof in my testing and even does scheduling and automatic channel tuning over FW.

Now I already have a Desktop machine hooked up to the same TV as the Pace box I have been testing with. Mostly there for light HTPC use so far with just OTA. It runs Windows 7 32 bit so is able to use the STB drivers. VIA based FW chipset. I have tried both in Windows with the usual tools and also the RedButton software with no luck. Windows: CapDVHS either gives me the usual 'Cannot start capture' error or 'Cannot start SampleGrabber'. RedButton doesn't error but in the status window it does have a 'bytes transferred' line which remains at 0 whilst my laptop always starts cranking out the moment the channel changes. Anyone have any luck with VIA based Firewire cards? I'm thinking I might have to break down and go pick up a new card from Microcenter to fix this. Tuning over FW works great, just capturing doesn't even though it picks up the Tuner and Panel devices ans drivers install fine. Have even tried numerous different Tuner drivers through all the brands (Motorola, SA, Generic, etc..) with no change. Would be nice to join this up with MCE and (mostly) byass the ugly iGuide DVR on the Pace equipment.

I just got FireWire STB working on my DCX-3200M, using Win7 x32 after reading this thread. Recording HD sports (Vancouver Canucks vs Detroit Red Wings) as we speak.

TNO821, Nimo, and DSperber, thank you for your efforts!

Awesome, you are very welcome!

Question: Have you had any difficulty with the DCX-3200M's and FireWire capturing? I know that the DCX-3200 is not a DVR (it's just a cable box), but I don't know anything about the 3200M...can it stream DVR recordings from another Motorola DCX DVR box?

Yep, the cable card determines which channels you're allowed to get, i.e. those beyond the local "OTA" channels. HDHomerun Prime is a network device, so the 3 tuners it provides can be accessed by any Vista/Win7 computer on the network. 7MC records the channels exactly as they come over the wire (fiber?) from Verizon, so you get DD5.1 and the untouched video/audio as it's sent. The 7MC interface is also pretty nice. Not quite as powerful/advanced as Tivo, but much better than anything from Comcast or Verizon. You also don't have access to OnDemand, but I never really used that much.

7MC records to a WTV file, I use VideoRedo to edit those but I believe there are also free tools to convert to another container such as TS. The beauty of this method is the file is already there on the PC, you don't need to "capture" or transfer anything, just go directly to editing.

Keep in mind this all works so well because Verizon doesn't prevent it via a "copy once" flag. For channels with that designation, you can only watch them on the PC where it's recorded. Of course, you're similarly restricted using fire wire, so it's an issue for either method.

A friend just mentioned the HDHomerun Prime to me and it sounds great. I'm curious, once the programs are recorded to WTV files (not exactly sure what those are) can you then copy them to a NAS or other device? I'm a big hockey fan (if my username didn't give me away) and I've always wanted to archive all the games from each season. Unfortunately my DVR only holds a few of them and even so they only last as long as the cable box does. What I'd like to do is record the games in HD and then move them to my Drobo where I can just keep popping in additional 3TB drives when the need arises. Is this feasible with the Homerun Prime?

A friend just mentioned the HDHomerun Prime to me and it sounds great. I'm curious, once the programs are recorded to WTV files (not exactly sure what those are) can you then copy them to a NAS or other device? I'm a big hockey fan (if my username didn't give me away) and I've always wanted to archive all the games from each season. Unfortunately my DVR only holds a few of them and even so they only last as long as the cable box does. What I'd like to do is record the games in HD and then move them to my Drobo where I can just keep popping in additional 3TB drives when the need arises. Is this feasible with the Homerun Prime?

Youb could actually set up the Drobo outright as a TV storage location in MC. It wont care whether it is a local drive, usb, esata, or network drive. As far as I know though your proposed idea of recording on the MC machine and offloading later should also work, but if copy protected it will remain locked to that particular machine that recorded it.

A friend just mentioned the HDHomerun Prime to me and it sounds great. I'm curious, once the programs are recorded to WTV files (not exactly sure what those are) can you then copy them to a NAS or other device?

This doesn't have a simple answer.

It all depends on whether or not your cable system delivers content on the channels that carry your beloved hockey games as copy-once or copy-freely. This is key to answering your question.

If the games are carried by off-air local network channels that are also carried on your cable system, they would by definition (of the FCC) have to be "copy-freely". If on the other hand they are carried by basic or premium cable channels, there's a good chance they would be marked as "copy-once". For sure, TWC seems to have that policy of marking everything "copy-once", whereas FIOS doesn't. I don't know about Comcast or other cable systems.

Anyway, the point is that copy-freely content has NO RESTRICTIONS AT ALL. Yes, it's recorded by Windows Media Center (using the network based tuners in the HD Homerun Prime to deliver TV content over your home network to the HTPC in which WMC is running) in a file format named WTV. This is a new "potentially DRM secure" format wrapper (to avoid piracy and unauthorized use), but conceptually the internal content is still standard MPEG-2 and standard HDTV.

Windows Media Player can play copy-freely WTV files from any location, as can some other non-free 3rd-party programs. And of course Windows Media Center can also play these files. And you have no limitations preventing you from copying those WTV files to any other disk storage (e.g. your 3TB drives) that are readable by WMP or WMC for playback. The WTV files are unencrypted, unlocked, unprotected, and can be played by WMP/WMC on any Win7 system... even a different one than did the original recording.

Now... on the other hand...

If your cable company delivers your hockey games marked with copy-once, now you're F'd.

Copy-once content can ONLY be played by the very same installed Win7 system that did the original recording. And this is because the WTV recordings are encrypted, and the decryption key is a time-based derivative of the actual installed Win7 that did the recording. This is therefore the ONLY Win7 which will ever be able to play back these recordings.

So if you have to reinstall Win7, you will NEVER be able to play these WTV files again. That's the nature of the DRM lockdown on these copy-once WTV files.

Furthermore, if you have to restore a "system image" (say from last week), and you've recorded additional hockey games in the current week (i.e. more recently than the date of the "system image" you're restoring), well you will NOT be able to play any of these copy-once WTV recordings made in that week. And that's because the decryption key has a time-based component, which is tied to the date on which the recording was made, of the Win7 system on which the recording was made. Go back to an older "system image", and the decryption key from WMC trying to run on that restored Win7 will be unusable to play back copy-once WTV files recorded after the date of that system image.

Now you can move the original copy-once WTV from the original disk location to a network location without a problem. And you can of course add these network locations to WMC's "recorded TV" library definition, so multiple folders can be considered part of WMC's "recorded TV" list, if you want to play anything back using WMC.

But you will NOT be able use Windows Media Player to play any of these copy-once WTV files... even WMP on the same machine as where WMC did the recording. Only WMC, on that same recording PC, can play back copy-once WTV files.

And of course you cannot use 3rd-party programs (e.g. VideoReDo) to read, edit, or otherwise access these copy-once WTV files. Only WMC on the Win7 system that did the recording is allowed to read, decrypt, and play, these files.

But VideoRedo CAN be used unrestricted to work on copy-freely WTV files.

Which is why I said this wasn't a simple question with a simple answer.

Otherwise, cablecard-enabled HD Homerun Prime works fine. As does HD Homerun (for OTA ATSC roof antenna use). As does the cablecard-enabled Ceton internal 4-tuner solution, or its external USB-attached 4-tuner solution. WMC is an excellent program... although your cable company and copy protection are significant factors.

It all depends on whether or not your cable system delivers content on the channels that carry your beloved hockey games as copy-once or copy-freely. This is key to answering your question.

If the games are carried by off-air local network channels that are also carried on your cable system, they would by definition (of the FCC) have to be "copy-freely". If on the other hand they are carried by basic or premium cable channels, there's a good chance they would be marked as "copy-once". For sure, TWC seems to have that policy of marking everything "copy-once", whereas FIOS doesn't. I don't know about Comcast or other cable systems.

Anyway, the point is that copy-freely content has NO RESTRICTIONS AT ALL. Yes, it's recorded by Windows Media Center (using the network based tuners in the HD Homerun Prime to deliver TV content over your home network to the HTPC in which WMC is running) in a file format named WTV. This is a new "potentially DRM secure" format wrapper (to avoid piracy and unauthorized use), but conceptually the internal content is still standard MPEG-2 and standard HDTV.

Windows Media Player can play copy-freely WTV files from any location, as can some other non-free 3rd-party programs. And of course Windows Media Center can also play these files. And you have no limitations preventing you from copying those WTV files to any other disk storage (e.g. your 3TB drives) that are readable by WMP or WMC for playback. The WTV files are unencrypted, unlocked, unprotected, and can be played by WMP/WMC on any Win7 system... even a different one than did the original recording.

Now... on the other hand...

If your cable company delivers your hockey games marked with copy-once, now you're F'd.

Copy-once content can ONLY be played by the very same installed Win7 system that did the original recording. And this is because the WTV recordings are encrypted, and the decryption key is a time-based derivative of the actual installed Win7 that did the recording. This is therefore the ONLY Win7 which will ever be able to play back these recordings.

So if you have to reinstall Win7, you will NEVER be able to play these WTV files again. That's the nature of the DRM lockdown on these copy-once WTV files.

Furthermore, if you have to restore a "system image" (say from last week), and you've recorded additional hockey games in the current week (i.e. more recently than the date of the "system image" you're restoring), well you will NOT be able to play any of these copy-once WTV recordings made in that week. And that's because the decryption key has a time-based component, which is tied to the date on which the recording was made, of the Win7 system on which the recording was made. Go back to an older "system image", and the decryption key from WMC trying to run on that restored Win7 will be unusable to play back copy-once WTV files recorded after the date of that system image.

Now you can move the original copy-once WTV from the original disk location to a network location without a problem. And you can of course add these network locations to WMC's "recorded TV" library definition, so multiple folders can be considered part of WMC's "recorded TV" list, if you want to play anything back using WMC.

But you will NOT be able use Windows Media Player to play any of these copy-once WTV files... even WMP on the same machine as where WMC did the recording. Only WMC, on that same recording PC, can play back copy-once WTV files.

And of course you cannot use 3rd-party programs (e.g. VideoReDo) to read, edit, or otherwise access these copy-once WTV files. Only WMC on the Win7 system that did the recording is allowed to read, decrypt, and play, these files.

But VideoRedo CAN be used unrestricted to work on copy-freely WTV files.

Which is why I said this wasn't a simple question with a simple answer.

Otherwise, cablecard-enabled HD Homerun Prime works fine. As does HD Homerun (for OTA ATSC roof antenna use). As does the cablecard-enabled Ceton internal 4-tuner solution, or its external USB-attached 4-tuner solution. WMC is an excellent program... although your cable company and copy protection are significant factors.

Thanks for the detailed info. How would I go about determining whether MSG-HD, NBC Sports-HD and NBC-HD would be tagged as copy-once or copy freely on TWC? Also, is a channel either one or the other...or can the status change depending on the particular broadcast?

Youb could actually set up the Drobo outright as a TV storage location in MC. It wont care whether it is a local drive, usb, esata, or network drive. As far as I know though your proposed idea of recording on the MC machine and offloading later should also work, but if copy protected it will remain locked to that particular machine that recorded it.

Not sure this is true, I don't think 7MC allows the use of a network drive, though I could be wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadwayblue

Thanks for the detailed info. How would I go about determining whether MSG-HD, NBC Sports-HD and NBC-HD would be tagged as copy-once or copy freely on TWC? Also, is a channel either one or the other...or can the status change depending on the particular broadcast?

NBC-HD should be in the clear since it's a local channel. You can ask in your local TWC thread for the others. There's probably also a way to see the status of the copy flag using the diagnostics screen of your DVR. How to get into that screen depends on the HD DVR being used.

Unfortunately it's my experience the cable company can change this without notice. I'm on FiOS now and everything's (well except premium and PPV) copy freely. But previously on Comcast it varied considerably, channels that were fine would change 3 months later and then revert back.

Thanks for the detailed info. How would I go about determining whether MSG-HD, NBC Sports-HD and NBC-HD would be tagged as copy-once or copy freely on TWC??

I don't know where you are nationally, but here in TWC/LA land the policy seems to be that just about everything is marked copy-once, with the exception of all the local OTA network channels plus a handful of basic cable channels (no rhyme or reason other than perhaps some carriage agreement between TWC and the network, e.g. BRAVO-HD is copy-freely!).

For sure, NBC Sports HD (here in LA it's channel 469, which is the same channel that carried the former "Versus HD" channel which has now been re-branded to "NBC Sports HD") is absolutely copy-once. I just checked. It is shown on the web interface "diagnostic pages" for talking to the Ceton 4-tuner card on my HTPC.

We don't get MSG-HD here, so I don't know about it. But it sounds like a subscription-enabled "premium" type of channel, so I would guess it would again be copy-once, if TWC's apparent general policy to "copy-once everything" can be extrapolated.

For sure, the OTA NBC-HD flagship network is absolutely copy-freely as are all of the main OTA broadcast networks, even when the content is carried on cable by TWC/LA. This is mandated by the FCC.

Thanks for the detailed info. How would I go about determining whether MSG-HD, NBC Sports-HD and NBC-HD would be tagged as copy-once or copy freely on TWC? Also, is a channel either one or the other...or can the status change depending on the particular broadcast?

The content can be flagged on a program by program basis, and can even change moment by moment, though usually it is on a channel basis.

Has anyone successfully used the XP drivers to record from an Explorer 8640HD STB (Time Warner)? This STB isn't in the list of supported devices and I can't seem to open a stream in VLC or CapDVHS. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Has anyone successfully used the XP drivers to record from an Explorer 8640HD STB (Time Warner)? This STB isn't in the list of supported devices and I can't seem to open a stream in VLC or CapDVHS. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nope, all I've ever gotten is an error message. In my experience, it only captures a few frames of video before crashing on the Explorer units.

I'm dumping TWC and just going to stick with RR internet. They blocked more basic channels this month and I'm just plain fed up with this crap ass company. From What I gather after I dump their service and still keep the internet, I'll still get the basic feed and I'm fine with that, because even for free they still suck monkey balls. And they are just not worth my time anymore....

I'm dumping TWC and just going to stick with RR internet. They blocked more basic channels this month and I'm just plain fed up with this crap ass company. From What I gather after I dump their service and still keep the internet, I'll still get the basic feed and I'm fine with that, because even for free they still suck monkey balls. And they are just not worth my time anymore....

Unless they install a physical trap on your line coming into the house to block the frequencies the cable TV service reside on and only allow the operating band of your cable modem to pass through. Not sure if they overlap, and I highly doubt it is worth their time and money to send someone out to install the physical filter on the line.

Anyone get the dcx3200 to work with a 6-pin (full size) firewire cable?
Mine will work fine with a 6-pin to 4-pin mini cable and I know the 6-pin port works on my PC but just trying to figure out if I bought a bum cable or the 2 extra power pins are not supported. Thanks

Anyone get the dcx3200 to work with a 6-pin (full size) firewire cable?
Mine will work fine with a 6-pin to 4-pin mini cable and I know the 6-pin port works on my PC but just trying to figure out if I bought a bum cable or the 2 extra power pins are not supported. Thanks

It does not matter which cable you use so long as the end connected to the motorola is a 6 pin since that is the type of plug it has on the backplane. Neither the STB nor computer require the extra 2 pins for power, so the extra 2 pins are essentially useless, but the 6 pin connector is much more robust and easier to insert, especially when the plug in is blind with the back of the STB facing away from you.